Modern electronics, such as telecommunications equipment, is commonly contained in a housing or chassis that may or may not be mounted in a standard sized rack. The chassis may serve many functions, including providing structural support for the contents, providing a common electrical ground, providing protection from electromagnetic interference (EMI), and others.
Within certain industries, there are standards organizations that have promulgated specifications for certain types of electronics chassis. One example of such an organization is the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) and an example of such a specification is PICMG 3.0 Rev. 1.0 or as further updated, more commonly known as the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) specification.
Along with voluminous other requirements, the ATCA specification specifies the mechanical configuration of a backplane within a housing, the number, size, and relative spacing of circuit boards (referred to as blades) that are retained within the housing and which electrically connect to the backplane. The ATCA specification also specifies the characteristics of the circuit ground provided for the blades, and the cooling and air filtering requirements for the housing.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.